The present inventive concepts relate to an apparatus for the shaping of plastics material containers.
In the drinks-producing industry, plastics material containers are widely used. Plastics material containers are typically produced from plastics material pre-forms according to a shaping procedure, and in particular a blow moulding procedure. In this case, it is typical for blow moulding wheels to be provided on which a plurality of blow moulding stations are arranged. The plastics material pre-forms are expanded against an inner wall of the corresponding blow mould by being acted upon with compressed air inside these blow moulding stations. Blow moulding wheels of this type are preferably designed in the form of a rotor and revolve in a continuous manner about their axes of rotation. An axis of rotation is, in particular, orientated vertically. A lengthening of the axis of rotation thus intersects a center point of Earth.
For many beverages, it is necessary in this case to fill them under aseptic conditions. In this case, it is known for a sterilization process for the aseptic filling to start with the sterilization of finished bottles in a clean room. All the processes which have been carried out previously in the prior art, such as the production of the pre-forms, the conveying thereof, the heating thereof, and the blow moulding thereof to form the bottle, take place in a non-sterile environment. It is necessary to sterilize a relatively large area, namely, the area of the already finished plastic bottle.
The sterilization of containers which are intended to be filled with sensitive filling products can be carried out, for example, by the filling products being heated and filled in a hot state, and by the inside of the bottle being disinfected jointly with the hot filling products. In addition, it is also possible for the empty container to be disinfected separately before the filling procedure and to be filled under aseptic conditions with filling products sterilized at another location. The sterility of the empty container is achieved in this case by chemical disinfection agents such as peracetic acid (wet) or hydrogen peroxide (dry). To this end, the containers are moved into a so-called isolator in which they are acted upon with the disinfection agent which has to act for a specified time and then has to be removed again with a considerable outlay. In this case, a problem with respect to a residual quantity arises. The aseptically encapsulated filling means is arranged directly adjoining this isolator. This technology, however, is still relatively expensive.